Cathy Peterman is transforming how technology organizations develop talent in the AI era. As Chief People Officer, Technology at Wayfair, she partners with the Chief Technology Officer to shape the people strategy for 3,000 global technologists. She also leads Global Talent Development, responsible for Wayfair’s AI transformation and change management across the company's 11,000-person workforce. With 20 years of experience as a strategic partner to C-Suite executives, Cathy has guided global enterprises through complex transformations at unprecedented scale—from M&A integrations to rapid international expansion across organizations of up to 300,000 employees. At Amazon, she architected talent strategy for three distinct businesses supporting over 40,000 employees, leading initiatives in organizational design, executive development, people analytics, and performance transformation. Cathy's approach combines data-driven people analytics with human-centered design, enabling organizations to scale without sacrificing culture. Her expertise spans enterprise talent development, organizational design, executive compensation strategy, and building inclusive cultures as part of the fabric of high-performing technology teams. She is passionate about leveraging AI to unlock both operational efficiency and human potential in innovative, fast-growth companies. Based in Seattle, Cathy holds a BA from Villanova University and an MA from the University of Denver.

Ki Thompson is the head of global executive engagement at Microsoft. Before joining Microsoft, he was a senior leadership development business partner at Amazon. He served as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force for seven years and as a captain in the Air Force Reserve. He earned a DBA from Walden University and bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

Ruchika Tulshyan is the best-selling author of Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work (MIT Press). The book was described as “transformative” by Dr. Brené Brown. Ruchika is also the founder of Candour, an inclusion strategy practice. A former international business journalist, Ruchika is a regular contributor to the New York Times and Harvard Business Review. She has lived in five countries and currently calls Seattle home.

Shannon Flynn is the Vice President, Corporate Human Resources at Fortive.

Denise Bowen is a visionary leader with demonstrated success collaboratively solving complex problems to accelerate transformative results at scale. She currently serves as Vice President, People Strategy and Solutions for Providence. In this role, Denise is responsible for developing innovative and inspiring people strategies for the 120,000 caregivers (Providence’s name for employees) of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health system serving the Western U.S., which includes 52 hospitals, over 1,000 clinics, and a comprehensive range of health and social services across seven states. Through her leadership and in partnership across the organization, Providence developed an innovative five-year vision and people strategy aimed to inspire, develop, and enable our caregivers while accelerating the transformation needed to build tomorrow’s workforce today. Additionally, Denise led the development and implementation of Providence's flexible work model, ensuring a new way of working that improves connection, collaboration, and inclusion for 20,000 clinical and administrative caregivers.

Prior to joining the HR team, Denise served as a leader in Providence's strategy division where she established and led the Strategic Implementation team. Denise was responsible for driving progress on several strategic initiatives, including Providence brand integration, growth and experience strategies, and several confidential partnerships. She also served as a core team member on Providence's “Accelerating to Health 2.0” transformation, a commitment to deconstruct the current health system while delivering quadruple aim outcomes. These transformation efforts included reorganizing structure, diversifying revenue streams, strategically deploying capital, and modernizing the way administrative services are delivered. Prior to her first role at Providence as an administrative fellow, Denise spent time consulting with Group Health and as a Technical Manager at Epic Systems Corporation. She has held a place on the board of Boyer Children’s Clinic in Seattle since 2013 and currently serves as vice president on the executive committee. Throughout her career, Denise has demonstrated an ability to bring people together and accelerate results.

Denise graduated with a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) and Masters of Health Administration (MHA) from the University of Washington and received a Bachelor of Science in Psychobiology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Elizabeth Umphress is the Professor & Michael G. Foster Endowed Professorship & Faculty Director, Consulting and Business Development at the University of Washington.

Naomi Ishisaka is the Seattle Times’ assistant managing editor for diversity, inclusion and staff development. Her column on race, culture, equity and social justice appears weekly on Mondays.

Mardia Shands is the Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at TriHealth.

Alex Halverson  is a Tech Reporter at Puget Sound Business Journal.

Gloria Ngezaho, EdD, has exceptional experience as a practitioner in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion working to build more inclusive work and learning environments. Prior to joining King County, Wash., as Senior Human Resources Manager - Workforce & Workplace Equity, Dr. Ngezaho served as Executive Director for Employee Engagement, Equity & Organizational Development at Shoreline Community College in Shoreline, Wash.

Dr. Ngezaho was also the Chief Program and Equity Officer for Open School in Portland, Ore., where he led the school’s efforts in modeling leadership that advocates and generates specific support for historically underrepresented groups, with particular support focused on low-income groups and communities of color.  Dr. Ngezaho is also a published author, a former Oregon House District candidate, a prior member of the Multnomah County Citizen Involvement Committee, and currently serving in his second term as the Vice Chair of Budget Committee at Centennial School District.

Dr. Ngezaho holds a Doctorate of Education in Higher Education Leadership and Management from Concordia University-Portland, a Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution for International and Intercultural Conflict Resolution from Portland State University, and a Bachelor of International Studies in Political Economy from Portland State University. He also holds a certificate in intercultural and interfaith mediation from the U.S. Peace Institute and is a graduate of Harvard University School of Education with a certification in Education Leadership.

Jake Whittenberg is the Morning News Anchor at KING 5 News.

Bridget Chavez joined the KIRO 7 news team in August 2022. Bridget came to Seattle after reporting for KPTV Fox 12 Oregon in Portland and before that was a reporter at KOLO 8 in Reno, Nevada. She has covered major news events, extensively covering the Portland protests and riots of 2020, Oregon’s historic wildfires of 2020 and ice storm of 2021. From major breaking news to community impact stories, Bridget has extensive storytelling experience and is a two-time Emmy award winning journalist. Bridget is from Belen, New Mexico and received her undergraduate degrees from the University of New Mexico where she double-majored in Journalism & Mass Communication and Political Science. She also spent two years with Teach for America in San Jose, CA where she taught students with special needs. During that time, Bridget also earned a Master of Arts in Special Education from Loyola Marymount University. In 2016, she left the west coast for Syracuse University where she earned a Master of Science in Broadcast & Digital Journalist from the Newhouse School of Journalism at Syracuse University. Bridget is an avid runner and has run two marathons and plans to do more! She also enjoys snowboarding, paddleboarding, rock climbing, hiking and reading. She has a Dalmatian puppy named Truckee and a cat named Cat. Bridget is excited to continue to call the PNW home and explore all the Seattle area has to offer.

Cathy spent several years in radio, including time at KUOW where she served as managing editor, before a stint at the station formerly known as Q13 where she was the content manager. Cathy joined the Business Journal in 2022 and oversees special reports and features for the editorial department.

Chris Jarvis is a co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Realized Worth, a consulting firm focused on the design and implementation of transformative employee volunteering and giving initiatives. His work with organizations of all sizes from around the world is helping mobilize employees to make meaningful contributions in the communities where they live and work.

In 2015, Chris and his partner, Angela Parker, launched the RW Institute (RWI), a think tank focused on advancing the practice and theory of corporate citizenship. RWI is a collective of diverse stakeholders from around the world, committed to bringing evidence-based approaches to employee engagement in giving and volunteering using neuroscience, social sciences, transformative learning theory and other related academic disciplines.

Natasha Wahid is the Head of Content at Blueboard. She’s a natural storyteller who found her niche helping companies connect to their audiences through thoughtful communication. She believes in building spaces—both personal and professional—where people can be their full selves without fear or shame. She’s a seasoned speaker who’s presented at marketing conferences across the U.S. and is an alum of the incredible Shine Bootcamp (google it!)

When she’s not writing words for work, you’ll find Natasha hiking in the BC mountains, reading, laughing with friends, guzzling black coffee, and chasing sunshine.

As Co-founder and Chief Experience Officer of Ceresa, Nicole Tanzillo is dedicated to changing the landscape of leadership, using technology and neuroscience to democratize access to transformative leadership development for all, and particularly for traditionally underrepresented leadership communities. She is responsible for driving all aspects of the Ceresa experience, inclusive of Product, Design, Engineering, Operations, and Brand, building both a deeply human and data-driven solution for supporting early career talent.

Prior to joining Ceresa in 2018, Nicole was the Vice President of Strategic Operations at Spiceworks where she drove both long-term strategic planning and objective-aligned business operations across the company. During her eight-year tenure, she held multiple roles across marketing, operations, and product, pioneering the product management function.

Previous to her work at Spiceworks, she held multiple leadership roles at Surgient and NI (National Instruments) that included more than 2.5 years of working and living abroad in the UK, Europe, and Asia.

Over the course of her professional journey, the common theme is one of service and connection, leading Nicole to become a sought-after speaker and mentor, delivering engaging workshops and keynotes around the world.

A product technologist from the start, Tanzillo earned a BS in Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University where she was a President’s Endowed Scholar.

Emtrain founder and CEO Janine Yancey is a passionate advocate for healthy workplace cultures. Janine’s unique approach blends technology, behavioral science, data analytics, and social media-inspired interactions to help inform and improve workplace behavior. Janine presides over a team of experts and an extensive library of content including courses, video, resource guides, checklists and analytic reports that define the modern workplace.

Janine is a proponent of neutral, third-party guidance and problem-solving. By orchestrating a publicly-accessible community interface for employee questions and concerns, Janine stays at the forefront of real-world, real-time harassment, bias, discrimination, and ethics issues.

A tireless visionary, Janine writes extensively, has provided expert testimony and advice to state legislatures, and helps leading companies implement harassment prevention, diversity, ethics, and compliance programs. Janine is a sought-after speaker and has been published and interviewed in the mainstream media including The Washington Post, Fast Company, USA Today, Bloomberg Business, TechCrunch, and Startup Grind. She’s presented at Society of Ethics and Compliance; Techstars FounderCon; Founders Network, and The Club.

Prior to founding Emtrain, Janine was a partner at Employment Law Partners where she specialized in solving labor and employment problems for high tech firms including Google, Intuit and a variety of start-ups. Janine also worked as counsel at Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, served as Board Member of the Northern California Human Resources Association, and authored The HR Handbook, designed to help young tech companies navigate workplace laws.

Janine earned her JD at the University of California Hastings School of Law and a BA in English and Political Science at the University of California Berkeley.

Dr. Leann Pereira is a Doctor of Education, focusing on Learning and Instruction, and Organization and Leadership. She brings to Emtrain an entire career of developing or delivering enterprise products and services. Leann has worked with product management teams on applications that leverage automation and AI for people applications and is one of the founding directors of the Bay Area Learning Analytics Network.

Erica Graham Jordan is the Area VP of Sales, Mid-Market at Benevity.

Steve has spent the last 10+ years of his career building technology that helps people to learn, grow, and connect. Before starting Campfire, he spent 5 years at Instructure building a talent management platform focused on career development and human performance. He worked with product, marketing, sales, and strategy teams to grow the business from the ground up to $27 million in annual revenue. While with Instructure, he worked with teams at Disney, Tesla, Lululemon, Johnson and Johnson, and other global brands to strengthen their talent management practices.

Campfire was founded in 2020 at the very beginning of the pandemic and has benefitted from the changes and shifts that allow for us to consider new ways of connecting and working with each other. Steve has three co-founders - Todd, Taylor, and Marinne - who are all passionate about the mission of providing universal access to connected learning experiences.

Madhukar Govindaraju is the Founder & CEO of Numly, Inc. As an experienced Tech. Entrepreneur, Madhukar brings more than two decades of experience in the software industry as a GM/Product Executive, CTO, SVP Engineering, and business leader, at some of the world’s leading software companies, including VMware, Microsoft, TriNet HR Group, Saba Software, SAP / Business Objects, Hyperion Solutions, HP, IBM, and several successful startups. He also has several patents pending in the Talent Management, Innovation Network Analytics and AI-4-HR space.

Emily Pearce is the Director of Global Customer Care at Achievers and has a passion for leading large teams through transformations. Emily completed her Master of Arts, Leadership with Royal Roads University in 2022. Though her research focused on mentorship, Emily continues to explore the various types of learning partnerships and the role they play in career development, especially for those new to the corporate world.

Murika Matz is an accomplished senior executive with more than 20 years of success across the computer software, IT technology & services, human capital management and people experience markets. Murika’s deep passion for the success of customers is at the core of her approach to doing business, and her broad expertise includes customer relations, strategic planning, sales lifecycle, business development, company expansion/growth, and talent management. Additionally, Murika has developed and managed alliance networks, fostering strategic partner relationships that drive critical outcomes for customers.

TeNita Ballard is a Diversity Business Partner for SMG at Intel. She joined Intel in February 2021 as Global Supply Chain’s Diversity Business Partner. Quickly after joining the team she partnered with key stakeholders to create Supply Chain's Diversity and Inclusion SharePoint site, was BHR D&I’s point of contact for XLT’s Authentic Leadership Pilot, presented Intel’s D&I story at Modern Health’s Juneteenth Panel, provided Supply Chain’s African American Resource Group A3iS with the resources and support to get the data they needed to grow their initiatives. 

In her previous role, she was the Lead Consultant for Diversity & Inclusion at AT&T. She led D&I strategy for the Asian Pacific Islanders, Individuals with Disabilities and Veterans segments where she partnered with both internal and external stakeholders to ensure AT&T is seen as a great place to work and their service provider of choice. TeNita joined DIRECTV in 2006 with roles as an Investigative Analyst investigating Customer Risk Management and as a Commercial Analyst where she was responsible for commercial dealer account auditing to ensure company policy compliance.

In 2013, TeNita’s dedication to relationship building and community outreach inspired her to lead the group responsible for the creation and launch of DIRECTV’s first African American employee resource group. BAALANCE (Building African American Leaders and Navigating the Company Experience) launched in January 2014 and quickly became known for providing access to influential African Americans at on-site networking events.

With the DIRECTV and AT&T merger, BAALANCE merged into Community NETwork, which is AT&T’s African American Employee Resource Group. She served as the Community NETwork Los Angeles Chapter President and Vice President for the past 3 years. TeNita received her B.A. in Psychology from Cal State Long Beach and her Master of Business Administration from Keller Graduate School of Management. TeNita also held a full-time HR position at Coca-Cola Bottling Company Los Angeles while pursuing her BA and a full-time position at DIRECTV while pursuing her MBA.

Aidan is the Director of Employer Sales at Talkspace, the leading online mental healthcare company. She and her team support Benefit leaders when choosing a mental healthcare partner. With a background in HR, specifically employee wellness, L+D, and benefits administration, Aidan joined Talkspace 2.5 years ago with a keen understanding of the many roles HR leaders must take on to support their people. She has been a long-time therapy goer and mental health advocate, passionate about destigmatizing mental health and making therapy more accessible.

She is currently making strides to become a licensed therapist herself! As a sales leader, Aidan is specialized in scaling and managing high-performing sales teams while maintaining an empathetic, collaborative, and mission-driven team culture.

When not leading her team and talking about therapy – she is snuggling her cats, going on long walks, exploring the Catskills, and renovating her nearly 100-year-old cottage.